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Will all my tetras die?

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Hi,

I need advice on what to do with my neon tetras. I currently have 10 of them in a quarentine tank as 4 of them (1 has since died) had symtoms of what I thought was Neon Tetra Disease. (Googled symptoms as have had no experience of this or any diseases).

The fish that died had a curved spine and had completely lost the red off his body. The other 3 show signs of fading red, the other 6 show no signs as yet. Currently all 9 fish are still feeding etc.

I was advised to use aqaurium salt for 3 days (day two will be today, I havent put the second dose in yet) and then on day 4, I was advised to treat with an internal bacteria treatment.

Ive since read that tetras dont tolerate salt well (hence why I have not yet put the second dose in) and now I am completely confused as to what to do.

They were all in my 120litre tank with other fish (who all seem fine) for 6 months then this happened out of the blue without adding new fish for over a month or so.

What do I do with my remaining 9 neons?? Can anyone advise the best way to treat them, if I lose the 3 showing symptoms does that mean the other tetras in the tank will start to show symptoms and die too?

I have searched the internet and been on other fish forums but no one seems to be able to advise me on what is the right thing to do.

Neon tetra disease is not limited to neons but to all fish. People seem to think only neons get this. It is only passed onto others by living ones eating at one who had it and is laying dead in the tank.

Do not use salt. Neons also do not like water too warm. Mine do great at 76 but not so great at 80.

A curved spine can be a generic deformity as well. Since they are in a quarantine tank, was the tank cycled?

I would replace the ones back into their tank that are looking well. Only keep the ones in quarantine that appear fading. And make sure they are getting their water changes. Since you have had these fish for 6 months, you can rule out the neon tetra disease.

Do you mean was our quarentine tank cycled? By cycling do you mean letting the tank run for a couple of weeks fishless but with filter etc? The quarentine tank was set up in a rush using all water from our bigger tank, we have a filter and heater from when we used the tank prior to upgrading to the large.

By placing the other neons back in the big tank are you sure they wont spread the disease on to my other fish, Ive got keyhole cichilds, dwarf guerami's, platys, corydoras, and two bristlenose and really dont want to lose these too.

If I place the ones not showing symptoms back now, what should I do with the sick ones? Stop the salt and treat with internal bacteria treatment or do nothing? Also, would you recommend any treatment for my large tank or again just stop the salt and do nothing?

Thanks so much for responding, I am still learning all about fish and these little lives can be very complicated!

Moving water from one tank to another does nothing to help cycle a tank. If the filter has been in use right up to the time you added it to the quarantine tank, then you have a cycled tank. However, if it has not been used within a day or two of putting it on that quarantine tank, it can not cycle that tank because the bacteria would have died.

I see no reason to treat fish that do not appear ill and subject them to those that are. The only fish that should have been moved into the quarantine tank are those that are ill.

I would separate the ill ones from those not ill but make sure the quarantine tank is getting clean water changes regularly. Neons do not handle salt or medications very well so I would just do what you can for them and hope they make it. Clean water can often do wonders.

The only time all fish should go into a quarantine tank together is if you had just purchased them so they are not introducing ick to the main tank.

Thanks, we were told by the aquarium shop and also another guy in a different fish shop to move all the neons to prevent spread to the other fish. I will move the non sick looking ones back now and stop all treatment.

Im stumped as to how we cycle an emergency tank in that case, I dont have the room to have a 'just in case' tank running on its own. The only other thing I can think of its to also use a smaller filter in our larger tank so this can be moved in case of an emergency but Ive not heard of people doing that before?

We do regular water changes, for the sick neons would you suggest a quarter of the tank every few days?

PS we did move one of the sponges from the filter that was in use to the old filter for the quarentine tank - would this class as cycling?

To add: Anytime I see a neon that separates himself from the others and fades out like that, I just remove him from the tank and put him down. I have never seen a neon recover yet and have kept them for some time. You try to treat them and either the medication or the salt kills them anyway so my only concern then is to protect the rest of my stock at the sacrifice of the ill.

Many of us run an additional filter on our main tank for just that reason. Even a sponge filter works for this so yes, it should work for you just fine. My 10 gallon sits here empty all the time and I only set it up when I need it.

It seems that more have faded now, not just the initial 4. The only difference here is that none of them have seperated from the others they are all still swimming together and eating fine.. Does that change anything?

That's the problem of not doing an immediate separation of the ill from the well. This may be a bacterial infection that has spread. Have you done some water changes to make sure they are not simply stressed due to the water conditions? What is the water temp?

I don't know what to say at this point. If this has spread to others, then I suppose you may as well leave them together. I don't mean to be indecisive but if this is spreading then this is a game changer.

It's up to you if you want to try an antibacterial medication. Chances are they may die with it or without it but it may be worth a try rather than doing nothing?

Ah I dont know what to do! Ive just taken 4 out and have stressed them out trying to get them, Ive not yet put them in the big tank. Would it be safer to put them back in the quarentine tank and give them a dose of the internal bacterial treatment?
If I put these 4 back in the big tank and they have an infection they are likely to pass it on to my other fish arent they? Help!

You are simply going to have to make that decision, my friend. I'm worried that these fish will all die and I don't want to feel responsible for what I might advise.

I can only say if it was me, I think I would keep them together now that this has spread and TRY to treat them. It appears to be spreading without any medication. At least the effert of trying to help them and them dying is better than doing nothing?

If you do use medication, add an airstone if you have one. If not, drop down the level of the water so the filter will give more oxygen.